Hi, total beginner here, have never stepped foot in a gym until a few days ago, but am planning to get a membership and want to get stronger. FYI, am 25, 5'7, 130 lbs. I visited two gyms this week, but since I'm pretty weak and totally new, I was completely lost.

So...pls give advice for what exercises I should start out with. (And please note that I don't have a gym partner, so I'll want to start with things that don't require a spotter.) Thanks!

Hehe but on a serious note do that + a decent split and A LOT OF FOOOOOOOOOOD, fuck wanting to keep abs or whatever dude, just go on 531, Westside for Skinny Bastards, or like a 4/5/6 day split and hammer down for a year with clean foods and you will be sorted.

Well let’s see, i’m also a newbie as well.
First off you need to browse this site specifically the forums. the have so much information on this site.
Don’t get your self over whelmed with trying to take to much in at one time.
Start simple, pick a few work outs for the main muscle groups till you get your body used to working out and getting the motions and your form correct.
Next you need to have a goal, example your want to cut, lose weight,bulk up, you get my drift.
Most importantly don’t forget you nutrition, protien, protien, protien !
I hope my little bit of knowledge helps you out.
One other thing, i really suggest finding a partner. Being new you’ll get board and lose motivation, “my opinion completely”.

Figure out a way to distribute the muscles you work out over a few day split.

5’7" at 130? Eat, bare minimum, 2800-3000 calories per day to start, with the goal of getting as close to 400 grams of protein as possible each day. If you’re not gaining weight consistently (like, 1 lb a week, whatever, make it consistent and not just fat,) then eat more.

Depending on your goals… don’t worry about being lean too much. If bodybuilding is your concern, massive and powerful physiques were born through heavy weights, which is supported by a caloric surplus. Don’t get fat, but it’s okay to lose some abz as long as you’re getting stronger and getting bigger. If it’s powerlifting, then focus primarily on strength, etc. If your goal is to look like Ryan Reynolds… can’t help you there. Go do hawt crunches and pushups.

Cardio also comes into play with the last point.

When you lift, work on increasing every one of your lifts each time you get into the gym… especially as a beginner. If you eat enough and stay focused, beginners can put on an appreciable amount of muscle and strength initially, as the body isn’t use to the work load.

newbie8431 wrote:So…pls give advice for what exercises I should start out with. (And please note that I don’t have a gym partner, so I’ll want to start with things that don’t require a spotter.) Thanks!

newbie, working with free weights, either the barbell or dumbbells, is going to be the best way to get stronger. That said, you’ll want to stick with compound exercises that work a lot of muscles all at once. Good examples are the Squat, Deadlift, Pull-up (or Chin-Up), and Bench Presses. Other than the deadlift, all of the exercises are relatively simple to learn. All of them recruit a large group of muscles to do the work. The are all decent exercises for beginners who want to improve their strength initially.

When you look around your gym, look for a large rack with pins or hooks on each side of the rack that holds a barbell. You may see someone doing squats in them (or bicep curls, unfortunately). This is the squat rack, and it should be where you spend most of your time in the gym, at least in the beginning. Hopefully, your gym will have the racks with the pull-up bar on the top so you won’t have to move until you are going to do presses.

It should be fairly obvious where you are going to bench press. Just look for the bench the with all the kids wearing wifebeaters are yelling out “IT’S ALL YOU DUDE, COME ON PUSH IT!!!” while attemping to hit 120 for one. Just kidding, but it’s still fairly obvious where to do bench presses. It’s just a long bench with a bar on pins above it. Lie down on the bench, lift the bar up, lower it down to your chest and push it back up.

I happen to have the link to a great article on learning (and perfecting) the deadlift. If you don’t do this ONE exercise, you’re gonna short change your results by a hefty chunk. It would be wise to learn this move.T NATION

The complete guide to dominating the deadlift, from shoe selection to advanced training techniques.

You’ll also want to research post-workout nutrition on your own accord, as I feel my post is getting a bit drawn out. Getting the proper nutrients in your body after your workout is key to great results as well, so I thought I would mention it.

newbie8431 wrote:So…pls give advice for what exercises I should start out with. (And please note that I don’t have a gym partner, so I’ll want to start with things that don’t require a spotter.) Thanks!

#1- Google Starting Strength [/quote]

Definitely this. As you do not know the lifts, get the Starting Strength book and it will tell you all you need to know, then just do the Starting Strength program, or one of the variations you can find through the starting strength wiki.

Start with empty bars for all of the exercises, do it until you stop progressing. After that, change to another program like Wendler’s 5/3/1, Westside for skinny bastards, or whatever. The entire time, eat a lot. Throughout the day, you need to do high rep fork curls emphasizing the concentric by loading weight at the bottom and deloading it at the top.

The “training for newbies” posts are real good because they teach you about all the weight lifting terminology and the important lifts.

My personal advice would be to focus on the core big weight strength exercises. If you do them your entire body will grow.

Squat

Bench Press

Deadlift

Bent-over Barbell Row

Pull-ups

Standing Overhead Press

If all you did was those exercises, you’d make incredible gains. Until you can bench press 2x your body weight, and squat 2.5x your body weight, I wouldn’t even think about doing isolation exercises such as bicep curls, or leg extensions, etc.

Until you can bench press 2x your body weight, and squat 2.5x your body weight, I wouldn’t even think about doing isolation exercises such as bicep curls, or leg extensions, etc.[/quote]

i disagree 100%. so lets say op weights 180lbs, he has to bench 360lbs before he can work his triceps with isolation movements? how the fuck is he gunna bench 360 lbs without strengthening his triceps directly?

but i digress maybe 180lbs throws off your theory, the op only weighs 130lbs so he has to bench 260lbs (at 130) before he can do isolations?

The “training for newbies” posts are real good because they teach you about all the weight lifting terminology and the important lifts.

My personal advice would be to focus on the core big weight strength exercises. If you do them your entire body will grow.

Squat

Bench Press

Deadlift

Bent-over Barbell Row

Pull-ups

Standing Overhead Press

If all you did was those exercises, you’d make incredible gains. Until you can bench press 2x your body weight, and squat 2.5x your body weight, I wouldn’t even think about doing isolation exercises such as bicep curls, or leg extensions, etc.[/quote]

Have you even read the articles you linked to??

Both of those series include isolation movements as recommended lifts!!